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Agricultural Extension in Kenya: Practice and Policy Lessons

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  • Muyanga, Milu
  • Jayne, Thom S.

Abstract

A consensus exists that extension services, if functioning effectively, improve agricultural productivity through providing farmers with information that helps them to optimize their use of limited resources. Variations in management practices and husbandry skills among small farmers in Kenya are very great. Tremendous poverty-reducing benefits could be reaped by bringing the production costs of the most inefficient farmers to mean productivity levels. Achieving these gains in maize production efficiency will depend on many factors, but extension is likely to be among the most important. Therefore, the costs to the nation of having an underperforming extension service – in terms of smallholder productivity, incomes, and poverty reduction, and the ability to survive or even thrive after the reduction in import tariffs as implied by impending COMESA and EAC trade agreements – are very high. The objective of this study is to assess the range of alternative food crop and livestock extension services currently operating in Kenya, what works, what doesn’t, and why. The report is fundamentally descriptive, providing knowledge on the nature of the existing extension providers, their characteristics, approaches employed and the challenges they face. Based on successful cases, we identify attributes that may be important for future discussions about extension service provision in Kenya and the role of the government in such a scenario. The study covered 16 districts representing the various agro-regional zones present in Kenya. It employed qualitative methods and focused on the private and public extension service providers. Discussions were also held with other stakeholder in the agricultural extension service realm about their experiences and perceptions of the existing extension systems and approaches. The study highlights five (6) important findings: (1) private extension provision is generally skewed towards well-endowed regions and high-value crops. Remote areas and po
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Suggested Citation

  • Muyanga, Milu & Jayne, Thom S., 2006. "Agricultural Extension in Kenya: Practice and Policy Lessons," Working Papers 202617, Egerton University, Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development.
  • Handle: RePEc:ags:egtewp:202617
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.202617
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Birkhaeuser, Dean & Evenson, Robert E & Feder, Gershon, 1991. "The Economic Impact of Agricultural Extension: A Review," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(3), pages 607-650, April.
    2. Anderson, Jock R. & Feder, Gershon, 2007. "Agricultural Extension," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: Robert Evenson & Prabhu Pingali (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 44, pages 2343-2378, Elsevier.
    3. Evenson, Robert E. & Mwabu, Germano, 1998. "The Effects of Agricultural Extension on Farm Yields in Kenya," Center Discussion Papers 28509, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    4. Robert E. Evenson & Germano Mwabu, 1998. "The Effects of Agricultural Extension on Farm Yields in Kenya," Working Papers 798, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    5. Gautam, Madhur & Anderson, Jack R., 1999. "Reconsidering the evidence on returns to T&V extension in Kenya," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2098, The World Bank.
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    Cited by:

    1. Okello, Julius J. & Kirui, Oliver K. & Gitonga, Zachary M. & Njiraini, Georgina W. & Nzuma, Jonathan M., 2014. "Determinants of Awareness and Use ICT-based Market Information Services in Developing-Country Agriculture: The Case of Smallholder Farmers in Kenya," Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture, Humboldt-Universitaat zu Berlin, vol. 53(3), pages 1-20, August.
    2. Otieno, David Jakinda & Hubbard, Lionel J. & Ruto, Eric, 2011. "Technical efficiency and technology gaps in beef cattle production systems in Kenya: A stochastic metafrontier analysis," 85th Annual Conference, April 18-20, 2011, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 108947, Agricultural Economics Society.
    3. Kibaara, Betty & Ariga, Joshua & Olwande, John & Jayne, Thom S., 2008. "Trends in Kenyan Agricultural Productivity: 1997-2007," Working Papers 202611, Egerton University, Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development.
    4. Bernard Kiprono, Rotich, 2012. "Contribution of On-Farm Diversification to Incomes of Smallholder Farmers in Konoin District, Bomet County," Research Theses 243441, Collaborative Masters Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    5. Daniel Kyalo Willy & Arnim Kuhn, 2016. "Technology Adoption Under Variable Weather Conditions — The Case of Rain Water Harvesting in Lake Naivasha Basin, Kenya," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 2(02), pages 1-25, June.
    6. Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman & Jeffry D. Connor, 2022. "Impact of Agricultural Extension Services on Fertilizer Use and Farmers’ Welfare: Evidence from Bangladesh," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-16, July.
    7. Li, Xianmei & Yu, Guoxin & Wen, Liping & Liu, Guoyong, 2023. "Research on the effect of agricultural science and technology service supply from the perspective of farmers' differentiation," Innovation and Green Development, Elsevier, vol. 2(3).
    8. Kilelu, Catherine W. & Klerkx, Laurens & Leeuwis, Cees & Hall, Andy, 2011. "Beyond knowledge brokerage: An exploratory study of innovation intermediaries in an evolving smallholder agricultural system in Kenya," MERIT Working Papers 2011-022, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    9. Paswel P. Marenya & Menale Kassie & Moti Jaleta & Dil Bahadur Rahut & Olaf Erenstein, 2017. "Predicting minimum tillage adoption among smallholder farmers using micro-level and policy variables," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-22, December.
    10. Willy, Daniel Kyalo & Kuhn, Arnim & Holm-Müller, Karin, 2012. "Payments for Environmental Services (PES) and the Characteristics of Social Ecological Systems: the Case of Lake Naivasha Basin," Discussion Papers 162880, University of Bonn, Institute for Food and Resource Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agricultural and Food Policy; International Development;

    JEL classification:

    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy

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